Lucius managed to get to the 2-hour mark without much issue; however, only an instant later, the 'overheat' from photosynthesis came like a tidal wave, hitting him all at once.
Before he knew it, the 'branding' marks on his body began to glow brightly before catching flames. Pagan and the bear-man leader rushed to Lucius's side, with Pagan instantly casting 『Solar Cleanse』.
However, this did nothing to satiate the branding.
Only a moment later, Lucius's eyes were forcefully opened by some strange force, and a set of chains erupted from his left eye.
They were golden chains, seemingly made of pure light, emitting the same type of energy as most of the solar crux's spells. The major difference being that its energy felt a million times denser.
As the chains wrapped around Lucius's body, he felt his link to the crux severed, and he could no longer call on any energy.
[You have exceeded the limits of your Rena.]
~I see,~ Lucius thought to himself before slowly lying on the ground. The pain from the marks wasn't as intense as it had been the first time, but they still hurt quite a bit. Like someone was using a knife to carve something into his skin.
The chains themselves couldn't really be felt, but their effect was troublesome.
As the members of the commune stared at Lucius's state in confusion, he was caught up in deep thought about the complexities that this new... 'restriction' would bring upon him.
~So no more pushing myself, huh? I suppose that means that I can only reliably depend on combat and Elmando now,~ he thought to himself.
~Though I wonder what would happen if I tried using Kumulipo,~ he pondered. After all, Kumulipo did not cause the same 'overheating' effect that the solar crux did.
~No, but if I use that, Pagan might wonder why I haven't taught it to him yet... and I already decided it's for the best he doesn't try to use it,~ he realized, before attempting to touch one of the chains.
~Hard light constructs? I'd never thought about that.~ This was definitely something he was going to run a couple of tests on later.
"Everyone back to the camp!" Pagan ordered after a moment of silence had passed. From the concerned look on Lucius's face, he could tell that his master would benefit from some silence.
"Tell Hannibal to return to base. I want him to personally guard the pod while we're away," Lucius added before getting up.
By now, the branding marks had simmered down and were only glowing slightly. However, the golden chains were still wrapped around his body, though oddly enough, they did not seem to restrict his movement in the least.
"Y-yes, Lighted One," the bear-man leader responded before bowing and rushing off into the forest. He was surprisingly fast for someone of his size.
"Is that a new spell, Lighted One?" Pagan asked, staring at the chains.
"No, it's something else," Lucius replied before mentally calling on the system shop. He hadn't forgotten about the skill he wanted to unlock.
"Have you ever heard of the word, Rena?" he added right after, as he confirmed the amount of helios he had accumulated.
[(Current Helios: 12,316,000)
~This'll do,~ he thought to himself as Pagan's face scrunched in thought.
"Take your time," Lucius whispered before purchasing 10 million helios' worth of evo-points.
[100,000 evo-points purchased!]
He then quickly moved over to the 『Skill Tree』 and selected the newly highlighted skill.
[Use 100,000 Evo points to unlock new skill?]
~Proceed.~
[Processing...]
[New skill unlocked... 『Blessing of Malus』.]
[...]
[High skill synergies detected! - 『Blessing of Malus』 and 『Solar Relay』]
[Combine skills?]
~Skill synergies, huh? Interesting,~ Lucius thought to himself, before approving the process.
[Combining 『Blessing of Malus』 and 『Solar Relay』...]
[Skill 『Mother of Malus [lvl.1]』 created!]
With this, the information pertaining to the skill was immediately uploaded into Lucius's mind.
"Well, this is..." Lucius whispered to himself as he processed what exactly the skill could do.
It seemed that the new skill gave him greater control over 『Solar Relay』, allowing him to now control when it absorbed sunlight and when it couldn't. Of course, it didn't seem very useful right now, though he wasn't going to complain about an extra feature.
However, this wasn't the fun part. This... 『Blessing of Malus [lvl.1]』 skill was a creation type, allowing Lucius to create what was basically a fruit, using solar energy. At level 1, the fruits replenished solar reserves and gave a small amount of helios. However, the addition of levels meant that perhaps the benefits would become even better with time.
Still, that wasn't the end of it. When combined with 『Solar Relay』 to create 『Mother of Malus [lvl.1]』, it allowed him to use the energy absorbed by the tree to create the fruits. And from the looks of it, there was no limit to how many fruits he could create. All that was needed was a solis fragment to act as a base for the fruit's growth.
~I suppose this means I'll have to hurry up and place the marked tree,~ Lucius thought to himself, somewhat excitedly. If they could take these fruits into battle, the only thing they would have to worry about would be their 'Rena' reserves... whatever that meant.
"Well, have you remembered anything?" Lucius asked after a few more seconds went by.
"I remember the fae spoke of that word often, but I can't remember what it was exactly. Maybe I once saw something, but my memory is blurry," Pagan said apologetically after racking his brain a little longer.
~It seems we won't be able to move forward in this matter until that tree is planted,~ Lucius thought to himself, recalling how the marked tree allowed them to view each other's memories.
~I suppose I'll do that right after I finish Gravenovarish's weapons,~ he decided, as he spotted Hannibal approaching in the distance.
He and the bear-man leader were near equals in speed, though Lucius was unsure whether that spoke to the bear-man's prowess or Hannibal's weakness.
"You called?" Hannibal asked once he was right in front of Lucius.
The bear-man leader stood right next to him, panting uncontrollably. In fact, from his laboured breathing, Lucius wouldn't be surprised if the poor creature rolled over and died.
~Ahh, so he was pushing himself,~ Lucius realized before turning his attention to Hannibal.
"I'll be going on a mission with the others; I want you to stay close by and protect Asclepius's pod," Lucius ordered.
Hannibal seemed slightly happy with this news, turning to look at Asclepius's pod with an expression Lucius had never seen on him before.
~Hmm.~
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